1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wheeled vehicle with a foot guide, and more particularly relates to a wheeled vehicle having a foot guide for a rider of the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Wheeled vehicles such as, for example, motorcycles, scooters and mopeds typically have a frame that supports front and rear wheels, a power unit, a seat and other components. The power unit can be an engine. The engine can be unified with a transmission to form an engine unit. In one arrangement, the engine unit is disposed on one side of a longitudinal center plane of the vehicle that extends vertically and from front to rear. Typically, the engine unit is located on the left hand side of the vehicle. A muffler of an exhaust system for the engine unit can be placed on the other side of the vehicle relative to the engine unit.
The seat may be a tandem seat which a primary rider and a secondary rider straddle. Typically, the wheeled vehicles have foot rests which are separately provided for the primary rider and the secondary rider. The foot rests for the secondary rider are located in the rear of the foot rests for the primary rider and adjacent to the engine unit. The secondary rider's foot rests are smaller than the primary rider's foot rests because large foot rests can interfere with the engine unit or the muffler. Due to the smaller size, the secondary rider may have difficulty locating his or her feet on the foot rests without seeing the respective feet. Particularly, the secondary rider tends to place the foot on the left hand side at a location on a top surface of the engine unit because the top surface has a relatively large area.
A heel guard may be attached to a side surface of the engine unit to prevent a heel of the secondary rider from directly touching the side surface of the engine unit. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. P2003-40173A discloses such a heel guard. The heel guard, however, cannot prevent the secondary rider from placing the foot on the top surface of the engine unit. This is because the foot can move over the heel guard toward the top surface of the engine unit. In other words, the heel guard is located too low for the intended purpose. On the other hand, if the heel guard is high enough to prevent the foot from being placed on the top surface of the engine unit, the heel guide itself interferes with the foot being placed on the foot rest.